BOISE, Idaho — The family of a Star man who was shot and killed by police is suing the City of Star, Ada County, and law enforcement involved in the shooting.
39-year-old Jeremy Banach was shot and killed by law enforcement on June 15, 2022. Pictures of Jeremy fill his father Skip's house, serving as a painful memory of what he has lost.
"It's horrific," Skip said. "I think about my son every day, several times a day."
Boise Police led a Critical Incident Task Force investigation into the shooting. The Valley County Prosecutor's office reviewed the findings and determined the officer who shot Jeremy was justified.
The Ada County Sherriff's Office said that Jeremy was intoxicated on fentanyl and methamphetamine at the time of the shooting, stole a gun from a family member and then later pointed the gun at officers. Police said Jeremy ignored multiple attempts to ask him to drop the gun.
The Banach family said the officers should have handled the situation differently.
"You never know who you're dealing with. My son was not a bad guy. Did he have a problem? Yes. He had a mental problem," Skip said. "You don't deal with a mental problem by shooting him. You're supposed to be trying to help him."
Jeremy's family filed a lawsuit on Monday, which alleges that officers acted with negligence and recklessness when they shot and killed Jeremy.
The lawsuit claims that Jeremy had shown up at their Banach home and was asked to leave. The family said he refused to leave and was high, so they called the police in order to trespass Banach and get him the help he needed for his drug addiction.
"They were negligent in doing their job," Skip said. "They came to my house because I called. I didn't call them to come and kill my son."
ACSO stated Banach eventually agreed to leave the property after they asked him to multiple times, and they noticed he put the gun in his waistband when he was asked to leave the home.
Skip said law enforcement never told him that Jeremy had a gun until after he left the property and went to the Star Merc parking lot, where he was shot five times by law enforcement after pointing the gun toward his head.
"If I would have known he has a gun, I would have gone out there and taken that gun away from him," Skip said. "It is against the law to have a weapon - any kind of a weapon, let alone a gun - and be high. [The law] says you shall arrest them. They didn't arrest them, they let them go. That was negligent. Had it not been for that point, killing him would have never come into existence."
Jeremy's parents made a documentary called A Cry for Help to share their son's story.
"The reason we wanted the documentary done is so that there was a good explanation for the things that occurred that day," Skip said. "And it explains why we're going to court today."
They are also calling for a reform in law enforcement training in Ada County so officers can better handle people in crisis.
"Law enforcement has to come to understand the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of law," Skip said. "When they understand that, they will act in the best interest of the public. That's what our job is supposed to be - looking out for the public and making sure they're safe, and that we're doing what's best for that person."
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